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As this reef tank journal, I have moved your thread to the correct section of the forum

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

Some updates to the thread: I picked up 30pounds of live rock for the tank, it being so small I didn't want to overdo it, and it seems like I made a good choice because with 30 pounds and the pieces It came out looking nice.

I used instant ocean salt mix, at 1/2 a cup per gallon as per the instructions on the bag.

Also, the lighting I'm using is Coralife Lunar Aqualight HO T5 Aquarium Light Fixture, and i will be doing an actinic blub and a super blue bulb. For the second set a the 10K bulbs with another super blue blub, and depending on the coral responds, when I start adding getting/adding it might go to a 12k instead of the 10.

Picture of tank at day 3 of the cycle. Noticed I've got some growth on the live rocks with having the lights on for a few hours, will be leaving them on for the full 10 hour photo period today.IMG_3256.jpg

What's your pH and salinity at? Are you using regular Instant Ocean or the Reef version? Are you using straight from tap water or RO/DI?

Think with logic and rationality more than emotion. Act with moderation and consideration. Contemplate ideals and realistic goals and weigh out possibilities and options. Temper not with personal delusions or false hope but learn to accept and move on.

Be careful with your light. On too long will give you some algae issues down the road. When I was doing my live rock reef tank cycle I was informed (by some very experianced individuals who I wont name, Cliff) to keep the temperature up around 80 degrees and keep the lights off unless I wanted to watch the tank. Your wife adding the live sand without rinsing it made me chuckle, I did that too and what a mess it made. But it did clear up.
Nice looking tank. Hows the water flow/agitation?

My Salintiy according to the Coralife Deep Six Hydrometer I have (yes I know, I should get refractometer, working on picking one up in a two weeks) my salinity ranges from 1.024 to 1.30, which is confusing because I'll test this a few good times and thats what I keep getting in ranges. I did my last test and let it sit for about 5 mins and it reads: 1.25

As for PH, I don't current have a test for that. I'll also be having to get one of those as well.

The tank didn't have any issues with clouding, since I poor the water over the live rock to keep that down, it cleared up with my ref and skimmer running pretty quickly. Cliff has been helping with me the light cycle info, we talked via PM about it. I"ll turn up the heat, and turn off the lights for now in that case lol. I was hoping to try and get some color going on those rocks haha